‘Message of Love’ is a song written by Chrissie Hynde and performed by the Pretenders. Released first as a single and then on the Pretenders' 1981 EP Extended Play, it was later re-released on the band's 1981 album Pretenders II. A band effort largely composed in the studio, the song was a radio hit and reached number 11 in the United Kingdom. It has since been praised by critics as a highlight of Pretenders II.
According to drummer Martin Chambers, the song was largely formed in the studio based on a rough sketch presented by Hynde. Chambers explained, "We never really got into the studio without any rehearsal and recorded a song, but we have done that once and that was 'Message of Love'. ... Hynde likes to come to the band when she has a song finished in her mind ... but this time she hadn't really finished it and so we just ... rehearsed it already set up in the studio and it was on tape in two hours, basically."
At the time, Hynde was dating Ray Davies of The Kinks; they had a daughter together in 1983 but split up soon after and never married. Hynde got married twice, first to Jim Kerr of Simple Minds in 1984, then to the artist Lucho Brieva in 1997 - neither worked out. "Relationships are not the be-all and end-all," she told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2015. "You have to be happy within yourself first. No man can give you that."
Described by Stewart Mason of Allmusic as a "fairly standard rocker", ‘Message of Love’ features a "a stop-start beat ... with skittering snare fills that give the song a paradoxically driving rhythm." The song was characterized by Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine as a "tough" rocker. Lyrically, the song features, as described by Mason, "undistinguished 'love power' lyrics". The song quotes Oscar Wilde with the lyric, "We are all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars".
‘Message of Love’ was initially released as a single in February 1981. The single was a top 20 hit in the United Kingdom, entering the charts at number 28 and peaking at number 11 in its second week on the charts. The single also saw some success in the United States, reaching number five on the Mainstream Rock chart and number 44 on the Dance Club chart.
Labels – Real, Sire (US)
Songwriter – Chrissie Hynde
Producer – Chris Thomas
SONG LYRICS
Now the reason we're hereAs man and woman
Is to love each other
Take care of each other
When love walks in the room
Everybody stand up
Oh, it's good, good, good
Like Brigitte Bardot
Now look at the people
In the streets, in the bars
We are all of us in the gutter
But some of us are looking at the stars
Look 'round the room
Life is unkind
We fall, but we keep gettin' up
Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
Me and you, every night, every day
We'll be together always this way
Your eyes are blue like the heavens above
Talk to me, darling, with a message of love
Now the reason we're here
Every man, every woman
Is to help each other
Stand by each other
When love walks in the room
Everybody stand up
Oh, it's good, good, good
Say I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you
Talk to me, darling
Talk to me, darling
Talk to me, darling
Talk to me, darling